Lace Tip

ABSTRACT

A lace tip for connecting on an end of a lace, and the lace tip includes a lace holding portion and an elastic portion. The lace holding portion is made of hard plastic and includes a sidewall, a closed end and an open end, wherein the sidewall defines an inner channel between the closed end and the open end, and the inner channel communicates with the open end through which the end of the lace is held in the inner channel. The elastic portion is made of soft rubber and is connected to the lace holding portion by an engaging effect to cover at least a segment of the lace holding portion.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The application claims priority to Taiwan Application Serial Number97112691, filed Apr. 8, 2008, which is herein incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to lace tips or aglets. More particularly,the present invention relates to a lace tip with a smooth and softsurface to prevent the tips from scraping hands.

2. Description of Related Art

Typically, laces, such as shoelaces are tipped with plastic tips oraglets. To make the plastic tips a hard plastic thin film is rolled up.The hard plastic thin film is rolled to package and secure an end of thelace with the two sides of the film being overlapped and glued togetherin the form of a lace tip.

Although the conventional lace tips rolled by the hard plastic thin filmcan package the ends of the laces, the edges or the corners of therolled hard plastic thin film, especially the overlapped sides or thefront of the hard plastic thin film, may be raised or warped to becomesharp edges or tips that will easily hurt or scrape the hands, or damageclothing when tying the laces. In addition, a portion of the end of thelace is exposed outside the lace tip. The strands of the rope of thelace may be worn or loosened after long-term use. Once the strands areworn or loosened, they may not only influence the appearance of thelace, but also reduce the useful life of the lace.

To address the aforementioned problems, another type of shoelace tipthat are also made of plastic has been provided. This shoelace tip has atubular body that is made integrally by plastic injection. The tubularbody has an open end and a closed end. The end of the shoelace isinserted and stuffed into the tubular body through its open end tocombine the shoelace tips with the ends of the shoelace.

Although the problems of shoelace tips made by the hard plastic thinfilm such as hurting or scraping the hands, damaging clothing or strandloosen are addressed, the tubular body of this type of lace tips iseasily fragmented by the stress during pressing manufacturing processthat secures the lace tips on the ends of the rope of the shoelacebecause the lace tips are integrally made by plastic injection. Thus,the materials of manufacturing the lace tips are wasted. In addition, ifthe lace tips are fragmented during a period of using because of thestress of the external force, the lace tips may lose their functions toprotect the shoelace or have an aesthetic appearance. When holes orrecesses are used for orientation or to present a trademark are definedin the tubular body, the tubular body is more easily fragmented.

Therefore, there is a need to provide an improved lace tip to mitigateor obviate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY

An aspect of the present invention is to provide a soft and elastic lacetip to hold and package an end of a lace by elasticity to address theproblems of the conventional lace tip with sharp edges that may hurt orscrape hands or damage clothing.

A lace tip for connecting on an end of a lace, and the lace tip includesa lace holding portion and an elastic portion. The lace holding portionis made of hard plastic and includes a sidewall, a closed end and anopen end, wherein the sidewall defines an inner channel between theclosed end and the open end, and the inner channel communicates with theopen end through which the end of the lace is held in the inner channel.The elastic portion is made of soft rubber and is connected to the laceholding portion by an engaging effect to cover at least a segment of thelace holding portion.

Therefore, the lace tip provides features that do not easily hurt hands,not easily scrape clothing, or are not easily fragmented and increasethe useful time of the lace. The lace tip provides the soft elasticportion to cover or connect to the hard lace holding portion. Inaddition, a strong engaging effect between the soft elastic portion andthe hard lace holding portion are also provided to prevent the twoportions from departing from each other. The soft elastic portionprevents hurting the hands or damaging the objects, and resistance ofthe stress of external force to improve useful time. Thus, when the laceis applied to objects such as shoes, clothes, pants, backpacks etc.,tying the lace becomes more convenient and smoother, especially to thelace is tied or pulled.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentinvention will become better understood with regard to the followingdescription, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a shoelace tipped with a lace tip of afirst embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a section view of the shoelace in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a shoelace tipped with a lace tip of asecond embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a section view of the shoelace in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a shoelace tipped with a lace tip of asecond embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a section view of the shoelace in FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferredembodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers areused in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or likeparts.

Refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. A first embodiment of a lace tip 200 of theinvention may be secured on an end 110 of a lace 100. The lace tip 200comprises a lace holding portion 210 and an elastic portion 220.

The lace holding portion 210 is made of hard plastic and comprises anaxis, a sidewall 212, a closed end 213 and an open end 214. The sidewall212 defines an inner channel 211 between the closed end 213 and the openend 214 wherein the inner channel 211 communicates with the open end214. The end 110 of the lace 100 is inserted and stuffed into the innerchannel 211 of the lace holding portion 210, and is held securely inposition in the inner channel 211. The hard plastic of the lace holdingportion 210 may use one of the materials including thermoplastic rubber(TPR), polyurethane (PU), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), andacrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymers (ABS).

The elastic portion 220 is an elastomer and may be made of soft rubber.The elastic portion 220 surrounds the lace holding portion 210 andcomprises an opening 221 and a receiving room 222. The opening 221 isnecked. The receiving room 222 is extended from the opening 221 andreceives the lace holding portion 210 inside through the opening 221.Thus, the elastic portion 220 hides the lace holding portion 210 whereinthe necked opening 221 restricts the lace holding portion 210 to moveoutside the receiving room 222 so that the lace holding portion 211 isheld in the receiving room 222 with the end 110 of the lace 100 withoutany separation. The elastic portion 220 may be made of one of thematerials including thermoplastic rubber (TPR), thermoplasticpolyurethane (TPU), polyurethane (PU) and thermoplastic polyesterelastomer (TPEE).

Refer to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. A second embodiment of a lace tip 300 of theinvention may be secured on an end 110 of a lace 100. The lace tip 300comprises a lace holding portion 310 and an elastic portion 320.

The lace holding portion 310 is made of hard plastic and comprises anaxis, a sidewall 312, a closed end 313, an open end 314 and alongitudinal protrusion 315. The sidewall 312 defines an inner channel311 between the closed end 313 and the open end 314 wherein the innerchannel 311 communicates with the open end 314. The longitudinalprotrusion 315 is extended longitudinally from the closed end 313 andcomprises a longitudinal bar 3151 and a transverse bar 3152. Thelongitudinal bar 3151 is formed between the closed end 313 and thetransverse bar 3152. The end 110 of the lace 100 is inserted and stuffedinto the inner channel 311 of the lace holding portion 310, and is heldsecurely in position in the inner channel 311. The hard plastic of thelace holding portion 310 may use one of the materials includingthermoplastic rubber (TPR), polyurethane (PU), thermoplasticpolyurethane to (TPU), and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymers(ABS).

The elastic portion 320 is an elastomer and may be made of rubber. Theelastic portion 320 is connected to the closed end 313 and surrounds thelongitudinal protrusion 315. The elastic portion 320 has an outersurface 321 that is true with an outer surface 316 of the lace holdingportion 310. Thus, the longitudinal protrusion 315 provides a strongengaging effect between the two portions 310 and 320 to prevent theelastic portion 320 separating from the lace holding portion 310. Theelastic portion 320 may be made of one of the materials includingthermoplastic rubber (TPR), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU),polyurethane (PU) and thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPEE).

Refer to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. A third embodiment of a lace tip 400 of theinvention may be secured on an end 110 of a lace 100. The lace tip 400comprises a lace holding portion 410 and an elastic portion 420.

The lace holding portion 410 is made of hard plastic and comprises anaxis, a sidewall 412, a closed end 413, an open end 414 and a pluralityof periphery protrusions 415. The sidewall 412 defines an inner channel411 between the closed end 413 and the open end 414 wherein the innerchannel 411 communicates with the open end 414. The peripheryprotrusions 415 are formed on the sidewall 412 and have a sidewallsurface 4151 and an outside surface 4152. The end 110 of the lace 100 isinserted and stuffed into the inner channel 411 of the lace holdingportion 410, and is held securely in position in the inner channel 411.The hard plastic of the lace holding portion 410 may use one of thematerials including thermoplastic rubber (TPR), polyurethane (PU),thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrenecopolymers (ABS). In the embodiment, the periphery protrusion 415 has aheart shape to provide decorative effects. The periphery protrusions 415may be implemented with trademark or product name for advertisement orproduct promotion purposes.

The elastic portion 420 is an elastomer and may be made of rubber. Theelastic portion 420 is attached to and surrounds the lace holdingportion 410, and allows the periphery protrusions 415 to be exposed. Theelastic portion 420 has an outer surface 421 that is true with theoutside surface 4152 of the lace holding portion 410. Further, theelastic portion 420 engages the sidewall surface 4151 of the laceholding portion 410. Thus, the periphery protrusion 415 can also providea strong engaging effect between the two portions 410 and 420 to preventthe elastic portion 420 separating from the lace holding portion 410.The elastic portion 420 may be made of one of the materials includingthermoplastic rubber (TPR), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU),polyurethane (PU) and thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPEE).

Therefore, the lace tip provides the soft elastic portion 220, 320, 420to cover or connect to the hard lace holding portion 210, 310, 410. Inaddition, strong engaging effects between the soft elastic portion 220,320, 420 and the hard lace holding portion 210, 310, 410 are alsoprovided to prevent the two portions from departing from each other. Thesoft elastic portion 220, 320, 420 provides prevents hurting hands ordamaging the objects, and resistance of the stress of external force toimprove useful time. Thus, when the lace 100 is applied to objects suchas shoes, clothes, pants, backpacks etc., tying the lace 100 becomesmore convenient and smoother when the lace 100 is tied or pulled.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made to the structure of the presentinvention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present inventioncover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fallwithin the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.

1. A lace tip for connecting on an end of a lace, and the lace tipcomprising: a lace holding portion made of hard plastic and comprising asidewall, a closed end and an open end, wherein the sidewall defines aninner channel between the closed end and the open end, and the innerchannel communicates with the open end through which the end of the laceis held in the inner channel; and an elastic portion made of soft rubberand connected to the lace holding portion by an engaging effect to coverat least a segment of the lace holding portion.
 2. The lace tip asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the plastic portion comprises a neckedopening and a receiving room, the receiving room is extended from thenecked opening and receives the lace holding portion inside through theopening, and the necked opening provides the engaging effect between thelace holding portion and the elastic portion.
 3. The lace tip as claimedin claim 1, wherein the lace holding portion comprises an outer surfaceand a longitudinal protrusion extended from the closed end, and theelastic portion is connected to the closed end, surrounds thelongitudinal protrusion to provide the engaging effect and comprises anouter surface that is true with the outer surface of the lace holdingportion.
 4. The lace tip as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lace holdingportion comprises at least one periphery protrusion formed on thesidewall, and each of the at least one periphery protrusion has asidewall surface and an outside surface, and the elastic portion isattached to and surrounds the lace holding portion, covers the sidewallsurface to provide the engaging effect, and comprises an outer surfacethat is true with the outside surface.
 5. The lace tip as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the lace holding portion is made of one ofthermoplastic rubber (TPR), polyurethane (PU), thermoplasticpolyurethane (TPU), and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymers(ABS).
 6. The lace tip as claimed in claim 1, wherein the elasticportion is made of one of thermoplastic rubber (TPR), thermoplasticpolyurethane (TPU), polyurethane (PU) and thermoplastic polyesterelastomer (TPEE).